Josh's Portfolio

Unit 4 Language Arts

December 17, 2025 /

What did I learn about Dystopian Fiction and its characteristics?

I learned that Dystopian Fiction is a book genre where there are Dystopian Fiction Characteristics which appear a lot. These characteristics are:

Totalitarianism: Government controls citizens through fear.

Constant Surveillance: Someone is always watching you…

Dehumanization: Humans rights are taken away from citizens.

Social Control: Citizens are also controlled by society.

Conformity: Everything is the same, difference/ diversity doesn’t matter.

Illusion of Utopia: It looks like and sounds like a perfect society.

Control of Nature: Nature is controlled by humans.

How does Dystopian Fiction invite me to think about real life?

Dystopian Fictions invites me to think of how the things that appear in those books are similar to some parts of the world, and different to others. While reading The Giver by Lois Lowry in Language Arts, I learned how to think of the disadvantages of what happens in the book, but also its advantages, and how it is good for society.

How did I enjoy/not enjoy the giver?

Lois Lowry did such a good job on putting a lot of details and turning points, which made me very curious about what was going to happen next. I think that the ending was too open-ended, which I did not enjoy because I wanted to know what happened in the end.

Academic Paragraphs

After the read aloud, STP assigned the class 1 or 2 chapters to read and do the Commonlit Assignment, which include 3 or 4 multiple choice reading comprehension questions, and an open- answer paragraph, where I had to write an academic paragraph. At first, I did not like the sound of that, but as I wrote more and more academic paragraphs, I became to improve on writing a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. Since Unit 5 is going to be the essay unit about how The Giver Movie is different from The Giver Book, and an essay includes many academic paragraphs, I think I will not have a very hard time writing it.

Literature Discussions

I also did Literature Discussions with my classmates. I learned how to give out ideas, build on others’ ideas, validate, paraphrase, and challenge ideas. Since I will have a lot of discussions with everyone in the future, I am glad I learned how to do these Small Group Discussions well.

Unit 1 Health- The Dangers of Social Media

December 16, 2025 /

Introduction and Safety Behaviors

In Health, I learned about how online platforms can impact people, especially teens and children. The most important thing I learned is how I can protect myself online and strategies to do that. Some safety behaviors that are important for me are always thinking before clicking, checking with trusted adults when there is a suspicious website, and never giving out my personal information. Some examples of trusted adults are my mom, dad, Ms. Dani, my uncle, and my grandmother.

Benefits and Risks of Social Media

Social Media is sometimes beneficial for teens since it is entertaining and you can also use it to connect with your friends, but there are many risks. They could be misinformation, scams, abuse, blue light, distraction or less productivity, etc.

Safety Strategies to Protect Myself Online

To protect myself online, I can make a strong password, always think or check with a trusted adult before I click, set a limited screen time, and not use unreliable or suspicious websites.

My Comic: L4 Health Comic- Social Media Impact on Teens

Volleyball Reflection( Net and Wall)

December 9, 2025 /

In this PE unit, I did volleyball and learned about bumping and serving. Using the beginner ball helped because it was my first time playing and I did not know anything about it. I am proud of how I put my best effort into this sport, but I still need to open up my palm and serves high and forward. I also need to develop more strength so I can hit the ball over the net. I also need to practice my aiming when bumping and serving so the ball does not go out during the game. I think this unit was a good start for my net and wall experience.

Unit 2- Social Studies Reflection- Why should we care about the past?

December 1, 2025 /

Unit 2 Otzi Unit Portfolio Reflection 

What did I work on? 

During this unit, ‘Why should we care about the past?’, I worked on  

    1. Making observations, inferences and wonderings 
    1. Using photos and articles as evidence 
    1. Writing a CER paragraph 
    1. Asking and answering open and closed questions 
    1. Taking part in the Otzi Mock Trial, my role was Defense Lawyer 2 

    What did I learn? Why should we care about the past? 

      1. We should care about the past because we can learn about the origin of humans and their culture, how prehistoric people lived, learn the differences and similarities with the present, and how prehistoric humans were very resourceful, very innovative, and very skilled. 

      What worked well? 

        1. I am proud of the following work: Otzi CER, my Open and Closed lawyer questions, and the evidence I gathered for the trial. 
        1. I am proud of the work above because I worked hard to learn how to write a CER. I am also proud of the way I failed a lot and kept correcting my questions to finally succeed in writing my questions. Lastly, gathering the evidence from the videos, pictures, and articles was one of the works I liked the most, because I had to explore different sources. 

        What did not work well? 

          1. I found some of this work challenging: Otzi the Dig, Otzi Evidence Graphic Organizer, and the CER 
          1. I found the work above challenging because I had to analyze images to complete The Dig, and analyzing images to write sights, thoughts, and wonders was hard. The Graphic Organizer was hard because of time constraints. That was my first MUN conference, so I had to do the organizer as homework even though I barely had any time on the weekends because of my conference, but I still completed it, so I am proud too. Finally, the CER was hard because it was my first time writing it and I did not know anything about it. 

          Personal Relevance 

            1. Collaboration and communications skills are important in my future because I will have to collaborate and communicate with different people(people I know very well or people I meet for the first time) for the rest of 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, high school, university, work, and so on. 

            This is a photo of my CER 

            Bake Sale Project

            November 27, 2025 /

            What did I do?

            In the bake sale project, my partners Dunah, Nikita, and I came up with a signature item baked and sold it , but the thing I want to show here is the math:

            On Day 1, My partners and I decided our signature item. We found the recipe on google and converted it from imperial to metric.

            On Day 2, we applied our skills of finding the unit rate in order to get the unit price for each ingredient. Then, we found our cost per batch.

            On Day, 3, we added all the ingredient prices to get our total ingredient price per batch, which was 88.23 RMB. We divided that by 16 servings to get our cost per brownie, which was 5.51 rounded up to 6 RMB.
            Then, we found our markup price, which was 12 RMB. We added that to the cost to get the 18 RMB sell price.

            On Day 4, we created a Canva poster of the math behind the project and made a script to present it.

            On Day 5, we sold all our baked goods.

            What did I learn?

            I started with learning about rates, which is similar to the ratio. I used the rates to calculate the total cost of the batch. Then, I learned about unit rates, which is some amount per something( for example 5 RMB per brownie). This made it easier to compare quantities throughout the unit and also in the bake sale project, where I had to find the unit price. I also learned about percents, which I used when I found the markup price.

            What Worked?

            My group made a lot of profit, 177 RMB. I really liked the collaboration in learning, baking, and selling in this project. I am proud of how my partners and I applied our knowledge of rates and unit rates, to this project. Our Income was over 350 RMB, so I am quite proud of that too. Best of all, my group’s goods were all sold out!

            What did not work well?

            I think I still could have used my knowledge of percents in this project. Even when I calculated the markup percent, it was just only calculating 100 percent and 200 percent of the cost. Also, the batch on google was too small, so we had to make 8 batches, which took 5 hours. so next time I should try and bake beforehand.

            Personal Relevance

            I loved this unit because I could learn new things such as the unit rate, which I did not know much of. I liked the selling part the most because I made so much profit. I feel like that this will be an important unit because I can apply this knowledge in math competitions and tests such as MATHCOUNTS, AMC, ASMA, etc.

            Soccer Reflection

            November 20, 2025 /

            I learned how to dribble with the inside and outside of my foot and pass. I also learned how to shoot with the inside of my foot. Something that helped was staying with teammates that are good at soccer, so we could score a lot. I am proud that I tried my best even if my performance was not good. I need to improve on dribbling, passing, shooting, aiming, saving goals, and most importantly, not being scared of the ball.

            Science Egg Car Reflection

            November 11, 2025 /

            In this Science Project, the task was to create the safest egg car with at least 2 safety systems to keep the egg safe. I continued my learning of Newton’s Laws, especially the 1st law and the 3rd law. I noticed the 1st law when the egg tried to fly forward when the car hit the concrete block because of its inertia, so I made a seatbelt. I saw the 3rd law when the concrete pushed back on the car when the car hit the wall, so I made a crumple zone. I was successful in building the seatbelt so that my egg did not fly forward. I am also proud of the extra protection for the 2nd law, which was the seatbelt at the back, so that my egg did not accelerate backwards when the car hit the concrete block. The thing I want to improve on is the protection for the 3rd law because the crumple zone was too short and my egg cracked. I also should have added a brake system on the wheels to make sure my car did not hit the wall with too much force. After finishing this project, I know that modern vehicles have a crumple zone and a seatbelt to protect the passengers if there is an accident. I finally understand that Newton’s Laws are the reasons car accidents get severe. I hope I can use this knowledge to build cars in the future.

            Design Reflection and Work

            November 7, 2025 /
            Josh Choi – Grade 6 Graphic Design Assignment – 4387303 (3)Download

            Graphic Design was the 1st Design Technology Unit, Graphic Design. I learned the whole design cycle and I got to demonstrate my learning by working on this project. The design cycle is empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. For the Empathize task, I asked my client about what he likes and which type of product I should make(coaster, keychain, earrings, and refrigerator magnet). After the Empathize task, I moved on to then Define task. I used ACCESSFM for that task but I only focused on Aesthetics, Material, Function, and Size. After the Define task, I started the Ideate Task. I drew 6 possible ways that my product could look like and then I described it. Then, I made my product in inkscape first, and then I printed it using the lasercutter. I listed out all the processes during the Prototype task. At the end, I tested my product and got feedback from my client.

            Grade+6+MS+3D+Modelling+UnitDownload

            3D Modeling was the 2nd unit. This unit was a bit different. I started with completing the Tinkercad tutorials so I could get the hang of the app. Then, Mr. Matt divided the whole class into 3 groups and I was in group 3. With my partners, we did the Ideate together and put all 6 chess piece ideas in one paper. Since our theme was fruits, we started on building the chess pieces on Tinkercad. I was the leader of my group so I helped my partners after finishing my own design. This unit was definitely good for improving my collaboration skills. After that, I did the Prototype on my own. Finally, when my chess piece was finished, I took it out of the 3D printer and I was done!

            Dance Reflection

            November 6, 2025 /

            I learned many different types of dance in these 13 weeks. I learned Modern dance, contemporary dance , K-pop dance, Afro Dance, and many others. I also learned how to collaborate with others. I made choreography, performed in front of my class, and used the dance techniques I learned. I think I did a good job in the spotlight performance and working with my House Dance group, but I can still improve on making longer choreography with less mistakes. Even though dance was pretty confusing for me at first in August, I think is was overall fun after I got the hang of it. I am considering dance for one of my one-semester performing arts in 7th or 8th grade.

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